People needed means of payment even before they invented money, and therefore, before their appearance, payment was made in kind: grain, fish, livestock, and sometimes slaves. At the beginning of the Bronze Age, that is, from about the XXXIII century. BC e., the role of a monetary equivalent began to be played by metal in the form of ingots of various shapes and weights. The first cast coins appeared in China no later than the middle of the second millennium BC. e., and the earliest minted - about 700 BC. e. in the cities of Asia Minor. It was with them that the history of the modern payment system began, and with it numismatics.
Coins in the Ancient World
Having entered circulation, copper coins, like those made of gold and silver, quickly replaced weighted means of payment and became the most widely used, primarily because the state was engaged in their production, which guaranteed the value indicated on them. In addition, all of them, regardless of nominal dignity, in addition to performing economic functions, played the role of information carriers, and since portraits began to be minted on themrulers, have become a significant factor in the ideological impact on the masses.
A powerful impetus to the production of gold, silver and copper coins was given by the development of the states of the ancient world, and during the period of the greatest expansion of the possessions of the Ancient Roman Empire, it reached its peak. It is characteristic that at the same time counterfeiters appeared in the world. The manufacture of fakes reached a particularly large scale in Athens at the turn of the 6th and 5th centuries. BC e., in connection with which the death pen alty was first introduced for this type of crime.
Money scam of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
As is known from history, copper coins appeared in Russia only in the middle of the 16th century, when the treasury felt an acute shortage of pre-existing silver and gold money, which was spent in large quantities on military needs. The initiative to introduce them into circulation belonged to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and was a kind of government scam.
The fact is that with the same size and weight, copper coins were officially equated to silver ones, while in reality they were many times inferior in purchasing power, and this difference was constantly increasing. In addition, paying the people in copper coins (at the rate of silver), the government levied taxes and taxes from them only in silver. The result was a catastrophic impoverishment of the population, resulting in the so-called "Copper Riot", suppressed by the king with extraordinary cruelty. However, the further release of the "copper pieces" hated by the people was stopped.
Peter's monetary reform
The next stage in the history of ancient copper coins of Russia began during the reign of Peter I, when a nationwide monetary reform was developed and implemented. It provided for the issue of coins of various denominations, made of gold, silver and copper. At the same time, each type had a strictly established nominal value, corresponding to how much and what kind of metal went into its manufacture. The entire monetary system of Russia was built on a decimal basis (for the first time in the world), in which coins of various denominations were in a certain ratio to each other.
The main difficulty faced by the authorities, introducing the Russian copper coin into circulation, was the restoration of trust in it, undermined by the criminal frivolity of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. It should be noted that Peter I coped with this task brilliantly. He did not try to duplicate silver with copper, as his father once did, but, taking the previously issued silver kopeck as a basis, he ordered that its fraction be minted from copper - components intended for the smallest payments. In addition, the real value of the copper used to make each coin was always equal to the value of silver in that part (fraction) of the penny to which it corresponded.
Beginning of widespread production of copper money
Thanks to such a reasonable approach, the Russian copper coin not only entered into widespread use, but also opened the way for further monetary reform. Its production was established at the Moscow Mint, towhich has since been dragged by endless carts laden with heavy yellow-and-red blanks.
The whole technological process was adjusted according to the Western model. The material was pre-rolled out on special machines, making strips of the required thickness out of it, from which circles were then cut down, which went straight under the stamp. By the way, the face value of such copper coins was very low. For example, in order to pay for an engagement ring with a small diamond, they would need to load a whole cart.
"Money" and "polyushka"
The new royal copper coins were called "money", well known to the people back in those days when there were no kopecks. The etymology (origin) of this word is very curious. As linguists explain, it is the Turkic noun “tamga”, which means “seal” or “sign”, translated into Russian.
This is explained by the fact that even in the "pre-penny" period, on the front side (obverse) of the coins bearing this name, an image of the coat of arms was placed, and on the back (reverse) their dignity was indicated. Half of the "money" was called "half". When Peter I introduced copper coins into circulation, which inherited the name "money", then each of them was equal to half a silver kopeck, and a penny - its quarters. In the same period, on the reverse of the coins, in addition to the denomination, they began to indicate the year of their manufacture, but not in numbers, but in the corresponding letters of the Slavic alphabet.
Further development of monetaryreforms
As noted above, thanks to the successful introduction of copper money into circulation, the government managed to complete the monetary reform planned by Peter I. So, in 1704, silver coins appeared in Russia, which were fractions of the ruble: half, half-fifty and hryvnia. Soon after that, another important step was taken towards improving the state monetary system - silver rubles and copper kopecks appeared in circulation, the real value of which corresponded to their silver counterpart. On them, in full accordance with tradition, an image of a horseman with a spear was placed (from this spear the word “penny” came).
Despite the fact that silver kopecks were withdrawn from circulation, giving way to copper coins of the same denomination, Russians were very reluctant to part with them. Over the centuries that have passed since then, many treasures have been discovered, entirely consisting of these small silver coins, rejected in the time of Peter the Great, called “scales”. Apparently, the cautious townsfolk were in no hurry to sell them by weight in the hope that sooner or later the royal whim would pass, and everything would return to its previous course. Then they will get hidden full-weight pennies from their "bins".
Comparison of Peter's and Soviet kopecks
In modern numismatics, there is the term "coin stack", denoting the amount of metal used to make one coin. Applying it to copper money produced during the reign of Peter I, we can say that theyminted on a twelve-rouble foot. In other words, coins worth 12 rubles were made from one pound of starting material.
To more clearly imagine whether this is a lot or a little, let's take as an example a penny produced in the Soviet Union, the weight of which, as you know, was one gram. It is easy to calculate that from a pood, that is, from 16 kg, of the source material, “little things” were obtained in the amount of 160 rubles. Thus, it can be argued that the smallest coin in the USSR was minted on a 160-ruble stop. Hence the conclusion: the kopeck, issued at the beginning of the Peter the Great reform, was 13.5 times heavier than the Soviet one.
On the verge of a financial crisis
The need to emphasize that it was about coins issued in the years immediately following the start of the reform is explained by the fact that very soon a shortage of copper began to be felt in Russia. As a result, it was decided to reduce the amount of material in each coin, and copper money began to lose weight dramatically. So, by 1718 they were minted at a 20-ruble foot, and a few years later it fell by half.
The result of this was the activation of counterfeiters, which is not surprising, since the state began to produce copper coins, which, judging by the material invested in them, cost almost 8 times cheaper than their own face value. Counterfeits filled the country and threatened to cause a financial crisis. The only effective measure in solving the problem was to increase the coin stop by 4 times, whichgovernment and did in 1730.
